It will be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that depression is a difficult mental disorder to treat. Patients having such a disorder are often reluctant to seek the medical attention necessary to diagnose the disorder. Such reluctance is often related to the patient's fear of the stigma associated with seeking psychiatric help or to the patient's feelings of worthlessness associated with depression. Moreover, once patients seek competent psychiatric help, it is difficult to successfully treat the disorder through psychoanalytic approaches alone.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, (DSM IV) published by the American Psychiatric Association, depressive disorders are classified under mood disorders and are divided into three types: major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder and depressive disorder not otherwise specified. Major depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder are differentiated based on chronicity, severity and persistence. In major depression the depressed mood must be present for two weeks. In dysthymic disorder the depressed mood must be present most days over a period of two (2) years. Usually major depressive disorder is characterized by its sharp contrast to usual functioning. A person with a major depressive episode can be functioning and feeling normally and suddenly develop severe symptoms of depression. By contrast a person with dysthymic disorder has chronic depression with less severe symptoms than major depression.
In an effort to treat depression, a variety of antidepressant compositions have been developed. Among these are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), such as sertraline (registered trademark ZOLOFT.RTM.--Pfizer), fluoxetine (registered trademark PROZAC.degree.--Eli Lilly), paroxetine (trade name PAXIL.TM.--Smith Kline Beecham) and fluvoxamine (trade name LUVOX.TM.). Other examples of antidepressant compositions include tricyclic antidepressants such as that sold under the registered trademark ELAVIL.RTM. (Merck, Sharpe and Dohme), aminoketone antidepressants such as bupropion, and lithium, a metal used to treat bipolar disorder. However, these drugs are very potent, often generating problematic side effects such as lethargy, clouded thinking and a lack of ability to concentrate.
Fluoxetine is also known to be efficacious in the treatment of dysmenorrhea and pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS). Steiner et al., New England Journal of Medicine 332:1529-34 (1995). The symptoms of PMS include dysphoria, craving for carbohydrates, exhaustion, muscle aches and cramps, among others. A detailed description of the symptoms of PMS can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, (DSM IV) published by the American Psychiatric Association. However, approximately forty percent (40%) of women who are suffering from PMS do not have a positive response to fluoxetine when treated with it.
Chromium, in its pharmaceutically acceptable trivalent form, has been used in the treatment of overeating as it is documented to control appetite. Trivalent chromium is commercially available as chromium picolinate. Chromium has also been documented as playing a role in facilitating the action of insulin in the body. In this regard, toxicity concerns relating to chromium have been demonstrated to be quite low.
There has been no description of the use of chromium in the treatment of depression or in the treatment of pre-menstrual syndrome.
A method of treating neurological and mental disorders was described in Sandyk U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,846. However, the method of this reference includes the application to the brain of a patient of a sufficient amount of an AC pulsed magnetic field of proper intensity and frequency to treat the disorder. In conjunction with the application of the AC pulsed magnetic field, a stimulant to facilitate the transport of tryptophan into the brain is administered. Chromium, preferably in the form of chromium picolinate, is described as a stimulant. However, when the disclosure of this application of chromium is taken as a whole, the deficiencies become apparent. First of all, the application of the AC pulsed magnetic field is required in the method. Additionally, a patient, particularly in the case of depression, may be resistant to accepting such a complex treatment.
Therefore, what is needed then is an effective, pharmacologically-based treatment for depression and for pre-menstrual syndrome that potentiates the action and reduces the side effects of known compositions used in the treatment of these disorders. Such a method of treatment is lacking in the prior art.